Short video company Kuaishou generated RMB 19.1 billion (USD 2.95 billion) in total revenues during Q2 2021, up 48.8% year-on-year and beating market expectations of RMB 18.73 (USD 2.89 billion), according to the company’s latest financial results released on Tuesday.
Kuaishou reported strong user metrics for the June quarter, as average daily active users climbed 11.9% YoY to 293.2 million from 262.1 million in Q2 2020. Users’ average time spent on the short video app each day rose 25.2% YoY to more than 85 minutes per day in Q2 2021, while DAUs’ average time spent reached 106.9 minutes.
“Although the short video user penetration rate in China is already quite high, we can still see the continued growth of our DAUs, while our users’ activity and engagement also have high growth potential,” CEO Su Hua told investors during the earnings call, adding that the company is aiming for 400 million DAUs in the medium to long term.
Kuaishou’s e-commerce business benefitted from the app’s increasing stickiness, as the total GMV of transactions on the platform doubled from Q2 2020 to over RMB 145 billion (USD 22.39 billion). More than 90% of e-commerce transactions took place within Kuaishou’s ecosystem, compared to 66% in Q2 2020, Su said. The company’s gross profit increased 89% YoY to RMB 8.4 billion (USD 1.27 billion), partially driven by the robust performance of Kuaishou’s online marketing activities, which generated RMB 10 billion (USD 1.54 billion) in the June quarter, up 156.2% YoY.
While Kuaishou has struggled to match rival ByteDance’s short video success in overseas markets with TikTok, the company registered over 180 million overseas monthly active users by the end of Q2 2021.
“Based on what we have learned from our domestic experience, we can acquire users at a relatively lower cost when competition is not intense, laying a solid foundation for future commercialization. Therefore, in overseas markets, we need to accelerate our progress and capture market share in more regions as quickly as possible,” Su said, adding that Kuaishou has already gained traction in South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
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